LEARNING WITH ANNE FRANK LEARNING WITH ANNE FRANK ‘The Annex is the ideal place to hide in’, thirteen-year- old Anne Frank wrote on 11 July 1942. The Netherlands was occupied by the Nazis and in order to escape persecution, Anne went into hiding in that same Annex with her parents, her sister Margot, the Van Pels family and Fritz Pfeffer. She was to spend more than two years in this secret hiding place. She kept a diary while she was there, which would be read after the war by millions of people. In her diary, she wrote letters to Kitty, a fictitious friend, about the things that moved her, such as the arguments in the hiding place, the upbeat moments, and the invaluable support from the helpers, who brought them food. Anne Frank planned to become a famous writer after the war. But on 4 August 1944, the eight people in hiding were betrayed and arrested. Anne Frank eventually died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. An aerial photo of the city centre of Amsterdam, 1949. ▶ On this photo, Prinsengracht 263 and the annexe at the back have been marked. Aviodrome Luchtfotografie Lelystad Aviodrome 15 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ANNE FRANK Anne is born on 12 June 1929 in In 1933, Hitler and his party When Anne is four years old, From May 1940 onwards, it’s For her thirteenth birthday, Anne Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The come to power. They hate the she moves to the Netherlands war. The Netherlands is occupied gets a diary. Frank family is Jewish. Jews. with her parents and her sister by the German army. The Nazis 1 2 Margot.3 persecute4 the Jews. 5 On 5 July 1942, Margot gets her On 6 July 1942, Anne, Margot, Four of her father’s employees Later on, they are joined in the In the Annex, Anne often writes call-up papers: she must report and their parents go into help the people in hiding: Miep Annex by four more people: in her diary; she wants to publish for work in Nazi-Germany. hiding in an empty part of her Gies, Johannes Kleiman, Victor Hermann and Auguste van Pels, a book after the war. father’s office building on the Kugler, and Bep Voskuijl. Jan Gies, their son Peter, and Fritz Pfeffer. 6 Prinsengracht7 in Amsterdam. Miep’s8 husband, helps them, too. 9 10 On 4 August 1944, the people in It has never been clarified who Anne dies in February 1945 in Out of the eight people in After the war, Otto Frank turns hiding are arrested. They have betrayed the people in hiding. the Bergen-Belsen concentration hiding, Otto Frank is the only Anne’s diary notes into a book, 11been betrayed. 12 13camp in Germany. 14one to survive the camps. 15‘The Secret Annex’. Anne Frank, 1940. ANNE AND THE HELPERS In 1933, Victor Kugler started working for Otto Frank’s company. He Otto Frank had known Johannes Kleiman for a long time. In 1923, was mainly occupied with the sale of spices. He often took magazines Otto Frank had tried to start a bank in Amsterdam and had run into and journals to the people in hiding, to give them something to read. Johannes Kleiman in the process. From 1940 onwards, Kleiman worked Otto speaking of the helpers Every week, Anne was overjoyed when he brought her Cinema & for Otto Frank’s company. Theater, a magazine. After the war, he explained why he had helped the people in hiding: ‘I had to help them: they were my friends.’ ‘The reason I cooperated in taking care of Otto Frank and his family during ‘I soon realised that the time would come when we would have to Victor Kugler the time they had to go into hiding, is that I had come to know him as a dedicated businessman and a very decent and helpful person, for which go into hiding to escape the danger of deportation. After having qualities he is generally known. discussed the matter thoroughly with Mr Van Pels, we came to the Johannes Kleiman conclusion that the solution would be to hide in the annexe of our office building at Prinsengracht 263. This would only be possible if Otto Frank Mr Kleiman and Mr Kugler would be willing to take full Victor Kugler, 1900 – 1981 Johannes Kleiman, 1896 – 1959 responsibility for everything connected with our hiding and if the two secretaries of the firm would cooperate. These were Mrs Miep In 1933, Miep Gies started working for Otto Frank’s company. On 5 July Bep Voskuijl started working for Otto Frank’s company before the war. Gies and Miss Elisabeth Voskuijl. All four agreed immediately, 1942, she went to the Frank family home with her husband Jan to She was the youngest staff member. When the Frank family went into collect as many things as she could for the hiding place. In an hiding in the secret annexe, she had just turned 23. According to Otto although they were fully aware of the dangerous task they would interview, Miep explained how they had divided the tasks among the Frank, Anne and Bep got along famously and could often be found in a take upon themselves in doing so. Under Nazi law, everyone helpers: ‘Bep took care of bread and milk. Kugler and Kleiman kept the corner whispering about things. After the war, Bep was often asked business afloat and brought books and magazines for the people in questions about Anne and the Secret Annex. As she wrote in a letter to helping Jews was severely punished and risked being put in prison, hiding. And it was my task to provide vegetables and meat.’ Miep’s Otto Frank, ‘it always makes me think of everything that happened’ and being deported or even shot.’ husband, Jan, also helped the people in the Annexe. He was a member that she had witnessed herself. ‘This great sadness will never leave my of the Resistance and could get his hands on the ration coupons you heart.’ needed to buy food. Bep Voskuijl Otto Frank in a letter to Yad Vashem, 10 June 1971. Edith Frank-Holländer ‘I was able to help these people. They were powerless and didn’t know where to go. I always stress the fact that we are no heroes. We did our human duty: Helping people in need. Many people didn’t do that, some Miep Gies, 1909 – 2010 Jan Gies, 1905 – 1993 out of fear. If people are afraid, you cannot hold it against them. And if Bep Voskuijl, 1919 – 1983 they admit to it honestly, as a friend of mine did at the time, I think that’s brave, too.’ Miep Gies Margot Frank The Annex 1. Warehouse 9. Washroom Anne speaking of the helpers 2. Company kitchen 10. Otto, Edith and Margot Frank’s room 3. Door to Otto Frank’s private office 11. Room that Anne Frank shared with Fritz Pfeffer 4. Victor Kugler’s office 12. Common living and dining room, at night the bedroom of Hermann and Auguste van Pels ‘They come upstairs every day and talk to the men about business 5. Office of Johannes Kleiman, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl 13. Peter van Pels’s room and politics, to the women about food and wartime difficulties, and 6. Storage area 14. Attic to the children about books and newspapers. They put on their most 7. Attic 15. Loft 8. Landing with the revolving bookcase leading to the Secret Annex cheerful expressions, bring flowers and gifts for birthdays and 15 Anne Frank holidays, and are always ready to do what they can. That’s something we should never forget: while others display their heroism in battle or against the Germans, our helpers prove theirs every day 14 by their good spirits and affection.’ Anne Frank, The Secret Annex, 28 January 1944. 13 12 7 Fritz Pfeffer 10 8 11 9 6 6 6 2 Hermann van Pels 3 4 5 1 1 1 Auguste van Pels-Röttgen Peter van Pels.